The performance of the embodied word of the prophets changed [the] very lives [of the people of Israel]. This dramatic, physicalized word was not just a thing said or an act committed. At times, dramatizing or physicalizing the word had very real personal consequences and effects. The word of God became housed in the body and very life of the person who delivered it to the people, and affected the prophet….

Let’s bring all this home. What I am pointing out is that drama in scripture actually changed the listener and the presenter. How often is that the case in today’s use of drama? We use it more like a form of entertainment–enjoyed, forgotten, and nonconsequential. Perhaps it’s time to rethink the potential of drama, to move away from entertainment and realize it as a liturgical act that reveals God’s effectual word. Perhaps we should see drama as a form of proclamation or as a human act of prayer or praise: then it would be more than just ‘‘a thing done’’ and become true performance—the form of the word coming through to change the people.

Todd Farley (2008): “Theater in Liturgy as Actio Divina–God’s Self-Performance,” Liturgy, 24:1, pp. 33-39.

The world has a glitz that might last for the evening, but when the arts are mediated by the Holy Spirit, they cease to be mere productions of the human mind and heart. They become revealers of truth. When the Holy Spirit uses a minister in performing of the word, the ensuing drama is not just ‘‘a thing done’’ by an actor; rather, it is what Dr. Charles Bartow of Princeton Seminary refers to as the actio divina, wherein the word ‘‘is intentional and artful, poetic, crafting for itself a work, a dramatic narrative, a story. It is actio divina, God’s self-performance.’’ A performance of ministry is more than just a ‘‘thing done,’’ it is a type of performance which is about the ‘‘form coming through, . . . [not just a performing] putting on an act.’’ The form that comes through is the word. Scripture is full of this type of ‘‘performance.’’

Todd Farley (2008): “Theater in Liturgy as Actio Divina–God’s Self-Performance,” Liturgy, 24:1, pp. 33-39

The character of the Old Testament narratives clearly indicates that narratives are dramas. They are divided into scenes. Each scene contains an important encounter between the main characters (in Israelite storytelling, only two characters converse at any one time). In each scene, third-person narration usually introduces and reinforces the dialogue. The scenes progress in dramatic fashion so that a conflict raised in a first scene develops in the middle scenes and is resolved in a final scene. The conflict always touches upon God’s work in the world, and the story seeks to draw the hearers more fully into that work. In short, narratives as they have come down to us are scripts of Israelite plays. To account for everything a narrative entails in terms of both content and context, we would need a stage of some sort, a gathering of people, and an “actor”–probably only one–who would read the third-person narration and give voice to different characters.

Thomas A. Boogaart, “Drama and the Sacred: Recovering the Dramatic Tradition in Scripture and Worship,” Touching the Altar: The Old Testament for Christian Worship, Carol M. Bechtel, ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2008), pp. 40-41.

Drama can be a powerful way to embody stories in worship. A well-executed scene can help people experience the message through every emotion from laughter to tears. Using drama effectively is increasingly difficult in an emerging culture that rejects any form of phoniness. If your themes are established well ahead of time, you can probably find or develop writers to come up with creative dramas that avoid the formulaic feel that many “worship skits” have. Moralistic skits and those that give simple answers don’t work. Realistic dramas of five to seven minutes in length with minimal backdrops and props are most compelling. Remember, good drama can be very good, and bad drama can be very bad. No drama is always better than poorly done drama. If you do not have the gifts and resources to do drama well, then wait until you do.

Bob Rognlien. Experiential Worship: Encountering God with Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), p. 136.

What are we to make of [the] burgeoning interest in drama among Western Christians? Is the interest simply utilitarian or something more profound? Are people introducing drama into worship because it works – that is, because it increases attendance and brings young people back to the church? Or are they celebrating drama itself as one of the many art forms that God has given to enrich the human community? I would like to think that it is the latter and that when drama works to attract people, it works for this reason. Drama, after all, is a unique gift to the human community. From the very beginning of time, people have gathered before a “stage” to see the essentials of their lives play out: their depravity and their nobility; their vulnerabilities and their ingenuity; their groveling and their glory; their fascination with and their fear of God. From the very beginning, they have recognized that the life presented on the stage is in a mysterious way a version of their own, and in the process they have become more deeply aware of life’s profundity and more fully dedicated to its enhancement.

Thomas A. Boogaart, “Drama and the Sacred: Recovering the Dramatic Tradition in Scripture and Worship,” Touching the Altar: The Old Testament for Christian Worship, Carol M. Bechtel, ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2008), pp. 36-38.